


War Rider

by LadyMarianne123



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-05-06
Packaged: 2018-06-02 12:28:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 19,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6566224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyMarianne123/pseuds/LadyMarianne123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucifer's niece is dead - or is she. And what is the Horseman of War doing in L.A.? Time will tell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Lucifer, seated in the darkness of his office, contemplated the empty bottle of scotch in front of him with a jaundiced eye. He could have sworn it was full just a moment ago. Or was an hour ago? He was loosing track of time these days and it bothered him no end. Even the dubious joy of sex with multiple partners (sometimes all at the same time) wasn't as intoxicating as it once was. Much as he hated to admit it, Mauve's death still bothered him. Not so much that she had DIED per se - but the fact that she could die. That the Old Man would actually let one of his pets shuffle off the mortal coil and not bring them back again, as he had done for all his Angelic hosts. Maybe it was because she was Nephilim, or maybe it was because she was a royal pain in the ass but Lucifer couldn't quite make out the why of the thing. Hearing from little brother Gabriel that her death had hurt Michael, Archangel, general of Gods armies and the reason Lucifer had fallen (been pushed) out of Heaven had made his day - for a while. But now...

"Are you STILL moping?" Maze asked, annoyed. "The Britanys are asking when you are going to come see their latest trick - something to do with ice cubes and silk ropes. And instead of enjoying their talents you are sitting here drinking up all the stock."

Lucifer frowned and looked back at his glass. "I think I said we were done, Maze. What part of we're over do you not understand

"You need me" the demon said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Like I need an anchor around my neck" he hissed, tossing the glass across the room. The sound of it shattering was muted by the commotion from the club. "What is happening down there?" he groused, rising and pushing his associate aside.  
On the club floor, people were scattering in all directions as two motorcycles pulled wheelies on the polished surface, passing each other in a choreographed move that would have been entertaining if it had not been so dangerous. Both riders were studies in black with the only difference being their helmets. The larger of the two wore a helmet decorated with images of weapons dripping with gore. The other rider's helmet bore the image of skulls and scythes. They chased each other around the floor, seeming to play a game of tag with the bar's employees and customers as obstacles. What was most disturbing was the quietness of the choppers motors, both of which should have filled the enclosed space with sound. Instead, there was nothing but a disturbing hum and the faint sound of what might have been voices chanting some long ago dirge.

Lucifer watched the spectacle for a moment, his eyes riveted on the riders. "Lovely" he thought grimly. "Just Lovely. Sending my brothers to threaten the world because of my presence isn't enough for dear old dad. Now he has to send these two."

The larger of the rider's stopped in the center of the club and looked up, saluting the being looking down at him with a closed fist to his heart. "Hail Lucifer, Morningstar, Prince of Hell."

"Hello War" he replied coldly. "What brings the Rider of the Red horse to my home?"

"A curtsey nothing more, so that you would be aware we were here." The rider signed and his companion slid in beside him as they both roared out of the club, the sound of chanting following them.

"Was that..." Maze asked, hesitantly.

"Yes - two of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. War and Death have come to L.A."


	2. Chapter 2

Chloe was sorting through the pile of paperwork and enjoying the first peaceful day she'd had in a while when "they" arrived. 

The first clue that this was going to be one of "those" days was when raised voice, mostly male and mostly angry/scared, floated into the bullpen. A fight was breaking out between uniform officers and some street people they had brought in, people who had been relatively calm until that moment. She could feel time slowing down and could see people frozen in their places, some in the middle of punches or falls. A huge man appeared out of nowhere, dressed in typical biker attire, bearing a striking resemblance to a wrestler she had once glimpsed on TV. "What was his name again - the Undertaker?" she thought just as the man's eyes pinpointed her position. Behind him was another biker type, equally big and equally rough looking (though slightly taller), both of them looking like five miles of bad road. They immediately made a bee-line for her desk.

"You are Detective Chloe Decker?" the second man asked, his voice tinged with a slight Aussie accent. He dropped his helmet on her desk, with the images of bleeding swords pointed in her direction.

"Yes..." she replied hesitantly.

The two men looked her up and down and then nodded to each other. "We come to let you know of our presence in your city as a courtesy both to you and to the Morningstar. Once our work is done we will be on our way."

"That's ... nice" she stammered, aware that every cop in the room was staring at this odd tableau. "Who exactly are you?" she asked, wondering what Lucifer had gotten her into this time.

"Names are relative" the first man said, his voice deceptively soft. "You may call me Thanatos and this is my brother Ares."

"Ares?" Chloe's eyes lit up with interest. She remembered that name from her conversation with Father Torres about a man who had followed Lucifer's niece in Rome. "Are you a friend of Mauve's?"

The second brother frowned. "Yes - but she is not here. More is the pity; she would have enjoyed our game."

Thanatos looked at his brother with a slight, smile that sent chills down Chloe's back. There was something so coldly calculating in his smile. It was not something she would ever want aimed at her yet his brother seemed to not notice – or care. "Yes - she is such a blood-thirsty little beast. I am surprised when she is let off her leash to play with you, my brother. Surprised but pleased. It always means more for me."

Ares cocked his head and smiled even more coldly at his "brother". "Yeah, brother, you always enjoy the results of my games."

Chloe could feel the tension in the room rising though the figures around her still did not move. "You do know Mauve is...gone...right?"

Ares and Thanatos both looked at her with eyes so dark and forbidding they reminded her of sharks. "We know" they said in unison. "But she will not be gone long. Father will lose her on the world again because she is needed and Brother Michael will not stop us from taking her along on our journeys. Not this time. She was and is a Rider - the Rider of the Red Horse. You will see soon enough." With that the two men turned with almost military precision and stalked out, avoiding touching people as they moved. With their departure time seemed to flow again on its natural course.

Dan came to stand by her desk, a worried look on his face. "What the hell is going on here today? Is everyone going bonkers at the same time?"

Chloe shivered, suddenly very, very cold. "I'm not sure but I have a feeling we're going to be busy for a while."


	3. Chapter 3

Lucifer watched as Det. Decker picked her way through the club, avoiding most of the more inebriated customers. She seemed her usual, depressingly serious self, even around the party atmosphere in the club. “Detective! To what do we owe this pleasure.” He asked gleefully. 

“What do you know about a couple of goons who go by the names Thanatos and Ares?” she asked, trying not to shout over the loud music.

Lucifer’s grin disappeared. “The better question would be what do you know about them?”

“I know they showed up at the precinct to let me know they were in town. I know that time seemed to slow down when they walked in, just like when your brother angels showed up. I know that they looked like rejects from the Hell’s Angels which makes me wonder what they might be here to do.” Chloe tapped on the bar as she made each point, watching Lucifer’s face as she talked.

“They are so much more than those posers” Lucifer sniffed. 

“So they are angels, right?” 

“No – they are something different” Maze’s voice floated from behind Lucifer as she joined the conversation. “And before you ask they aren’t demons either. They are Avatars.”

“What’s an Avatar?” Chloe asked, curious.

“Avatar’s are representations. They are something of a hybrid creature, neither demon nor angel and yet a little bit of both.” Lucifer said in exasperation. “Ares is a representation of the concept of War, Thanatos is a representation of the concept of Death. Dear old dad created them to break the seals to start the End of Days.”

“End of Days? So what, we’re facing an extinction at the hands of God’s chosen executioners?” 

“No” Lucifer’s voice tightened in frustration. “Only if all four of the Riders appear do we have a problem. War and Death appear together, Death and Famine or Death and Plague appear together but so long as all four don’t come together than Daddy isn’t looking to repeat his extermination event.”

“So what are they doing here?” Chloe asked.

“Who knows? Maybe they got bored running errands for their Maker. Maybe someone pissed them off. Maybe they just want a piece of me like everyone else in Heaven. Don’t know, don’t care so long as they stay out of my way.” Lucifer poured himself a drink and slid the bottle back towards Chloe. “Have a drink, Detective. You’ll feel so much better about them being in your world.”

“I don’t want to feel better about them being here” Chloe snarled, shoving the bottle back at him. “I want to know why they are here and what they are planning on doing here.” She started back towards the door then stopped. “You know, it’s like they either didn’t know or didn’t believe that Mauve was gone.”

“They don’t care” Maze said. “In their minds, she’ll turn up when it’s time to ride.”

In the warehouse

War looked around the remains of the destroyed warehouse, sniffing in the corners like a hound dog. “Hell spawn, many of them. Demons, also many of them.”

Death looked around, bored. “Yes – I know. I smell their destruction. That’s not why we are here.”

War smiled cruelly. “Morningstar didn’t seem overly pleased to see us. Perhaps the rumors are true. Perhaps he’s starting to restore his soul.”

Death’s hollow laugh echoed in the ruined space. “Did he ever really have a soul?” He paced out the destruction carefully, looking for the trace they needed. He stopped suddenly and leaned down, pulling up a long, black hair. “Here – this will work.”

War smiled and pulled up a crate. “By all means, brother, let’s begin.”

Death smiled grimly. “Michael will be displeased.”

War shrugged. “Father said it needs to happen if the Morningstar is to be saved. Michael’s feelings are unimportant.”

“In my book they always were.”


	4. Chapter 4

In the Heavenly realm

Michael carefully looked down the length of his sword, considering its strength. He laid it down and looked through the arrows in his quiver. Mindless tasks to keep his mind from going to where it had gone every moment since Mauve’s disappearance. He refused to think of it as death. Death was permanent, death meant she was gone forever, that he would never hear her laugh, never see her smile, even that he would never quarrel with her again. Even that would be sweet. Instead, he did as he always did, training his seraphim guards, watching the boundaries to make sure there were no incursions from Hell and any other tasks his Father requested. Anything to not think, to not hurt.

“Brother,” Gabriel’s voice called out. The Messenger landed beside his sibling, his eyes sad.

“Yes – what do you need?” 

“Do you know two of the Riders are in the mortal realm?” Gabriel stepped around the tables of weapons his brother had been working with.

“Has Father decided to break the seals and end their existence?” Michael asked, absently.

“No. Whatever they are doing is of their own volition. Only two of the Riders have entered the realm – War and Death.”

Michael raised one eyebrow. “That is not a surprise. War and Death have lived among mortal men since the beginning of time. They are not visiting, they are always there.”

Gabriel sighed. “Yes but I suspect they are there for a special reason. Should we not find out what they are doing?”

“So long as only two of the four are there I see no reason to interfere.” Michael picked up his sword and walked away. 

“Yes, like you saw no reason to warn Mauve about Hell’s movements” Gabriel muttered, turning on his heel, not seeing the sudden tensing of his brothers shoulders in response to his words.

In the warehouse area

War watched from the destroyed entrance to the warehouse as a group of mortal motorcycle riders gathered for a raucous party. Most of the cyclists wore the same patches, identifying them as being from the same club. He smiled at the thought of the battles to come when members of the rival club would find them on the wrong side of their territory. “That will be fun” he murmured, wiping his hands on a cloth. The message they had sent had been a messy proposition but so worth it. 

“What will be fun?” Death asked, stepping beside his brother, dumping the contents of a pot in the sewer. He saw the club drinking and fighting in the shadows of the warehouses. “Ah…now I see. Yes – so much destruction, so much death. How lovely.” His eyes turned black and his face glowed, showing the outlines of his skull.

“You two really need to get a life” an annoyed voice called out from the shadows. A slender figure, dressed in the classic Hells Angels colors, walked out to the stand with the two brothers, leaning on War as though he were a convenient wall. 

“We do have a life” War complained good-naturedly. 

“I meant something other than hanging around battle fields and cemeteries.”

“Why would we not want to hang around cemeteries?” Death questioned, coming to stand behind his brother and their companion. 

War grinned. “Way too quiet – better to be in the battlefield. So, that being said, it took you long enough to show up. When do we go after our prey?”

“I was working on something else when your message came through. We’ll start our hunt soon. Our prey won’t stay in the shadows long, not with Lucifer happily proclaiming his identity to anyone who will hear him. He won’t be able to resist.” The figure looked up, her face illuminated by the light. Her blue eyes gleamed with amusement. “I do so love a good hunt” Mauve said lightly.

“Don’t we all, little Nephilim, don’t we all” War agreed, looking back at the bikers and their party.


	5. Chapter 5

Chloe pulled up a chair in the garden of St. Anselm’s church and faced Father Torres. “What can you tell me about the Four Horsemen?”

Father Torres frowned. “They are mentioned in Revelations, a book that either speaks of the End of Days or is a diatribe on an evil Roman empire depending on who you speak to.”

“Lucifer says they are Avatar’s – physical representations of concepts, mainly of War and Death. I can’t tell if that means they are good or bad. I almost feel that it’s too simplistic to ask that question and that’s just frustrating.” Chloe looked down at her coffee in frustration.

“They are probably not completely one or the other” Father Torres agreed. “But why are you asking about them?”

“Because two of them showed up in my office “as a courtesy” to tell me they were in my city. I’m not sure what that means.” She glanced at her watch and reluctantly rose. “I need to get back. There has been some rumbling about some major biker gang action going down soon and everyone is on the clock.”

“Be safe, my dear. The world, I fear, is growing darker by the day.”

Chloe’s phone rang loudly, a message from her precinct. She listened as Father Torres gathered the coffee cups. She sighed as she put it back in her pocket. “There was a murder with multiple victims in the warehouse district. That darkness is becoming more real every day.”

In the heavenly realm

Michael watched as his Seraphim practiced their sword play. His eyes caught every error, every misstep, every loss of concentration. He was a hard taskmaster, firm but fair. “Don’t drop your arm!” he called out. 

“Michael” a voice called out. Uriel dropped into the training field. “We need to talk.”

“Not now, Uriel.”

“Yes, now” Uriel insisted. “It’s important.”

Michael closed his eyes, preparing to hear yet another lecture from one of his brothers. “As you wish.” He motioned for the other angels to continue their practice and walked off, his brother at his heels. “What is it?”

“Did you know that Father will create another Rider for the Red Horse – another War?”

“Why would He do that?” Michael scoffed. “There is already an Avatar for War.”

“He is too uncontrolled” Uriel said, uncomfortably. “He sees a chance for conflict in every gathering. Every field he walks into he creates anger and the chance for bloodshed. He and the Avatar of Death have become too addicted to the creation of chaos.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Michael asked. 

“Because I fear that this involves Mauve.”

Michael’s eyes went cold. “Who is the candidate?”

“I do not know” Uriel admitted. “It is possible there is mortal in the realm who, like Mauve, has some angelic blood.”

Michael sighed. “You tell me this because you want permission to join their hunt. I know you Uriel, you’re desires are plain.”

“No – I want YOU to join their hunt.” Uriel looked up at his brother in concern. “You need to find Mauve, you need to find peace. This is your hunt to undertake and if you do not believe it is so then go and talk to Father. You will see what He wants for yourself.”

Michael turned on his heel without another word, his heart in turmoil. He would speak to his Lord and ask for guidance and perhaps return to the mortal realm to hunt again.


	6. Chapter 6

Chloe walked around the crime scene, making mental notes of the damage. There were four fatalities and at least a half dozen injured. All were either members of a new biker gang in the area – L.A. Demons – their “old ladies” or various hangers-on. As usual with these types of crimes there were no witnesses or at least none that would come forward. “And of course it would happen here – in the warehouse district, not ten yards from where I saw Hell open up and Angels come down to fight.” She walked in the direction of the burned out building, making sure none of the CSI’s saw her leave.

The building looked just like she remembered it, which meant it didn’t look like anything special at all. The frame of the structure still stood but most of the walls and parts of the roof were fragments barely hanging on. And right in front of the warehouse stood two very large motorcycles. “I wonder” she thought as she approached. 

“Hello Detective Decker” a deep voice called from the warehouse. One of the bikers, Thanatos, came out and stood beside the motorcycles, absently stroking the handlebars on the one decorated with skulls. “What can I do for you?”

“You picked an interesting place to hold up” Chloe commented, her hand unconsciously straying to her gun.

Thanatos smiled, his face resembling a skull in the shadows. “You have no need to fear me, Detective. It is not your time yet. And even if it were I would not be the one to come for your soul.”

“That’s comforting” she murmured. “So – is your brother here?”

“Ares is … somewhere” Thanatos shrugged.

Chloe sighed. “Could you be more evasive?” she asked, looking past him into the warehouse.

“Yes – if I tried. But you have other questions – yes?”

Chloe looked back briefly at the lights from the crime scene. “There was an incident not far from here. I don’t suppose you saw any of it?”

Thanatos glanced down the alley. “You mean the slaughter? Yes and no. We were not in residence when it happened but we did see its aftermath.”

“Did you see anyone leaving the area when you arrived?”

Thanatos shrugged. “Many left – I suspect they were just observers of the event and not participants. No one stood out for me.”

Chloe sighed. It had been a long-shot. “Okay. If you remember anything” she gingerly held out a card to the big man. “Give me a call?”

Thanatos took the card with a slight bow. “We will do so.” He turned on his heel and silently re-entered the warehouse, giving his motorcycle another gentle caress.

Chloe shivered, and headed back down the alley, hoping to dispel the sudden cold.

At Lux

Lucifer watched his clients drink, dance and other entertainments with a jaundiced eye. “This is boring” he thought, checking his phone again. “I wonder what Detective Decker is up to?”

One of the Britannys flounced up to him in obvious distress. “Lucifer, there is some strange, biker chick up in your apartment.”

Lucifer frowned, looking down at Maze who was working the bar. “Biker chick? How could such a creature get into the club?” He rose gave the Brittany a quick kiss. “Go on down and tell Maze to meet me in my apartment.” He stalked up to his private rooms, looking around to see how a stranger could have made their way all the way to his apartment without being seen. He threw open the door and stopped, a smile slowly spreading over his handsome face. 

She was sitting on his couch reading a newspaper, one leg tucked under her. Her hair was short and untidy, looking like she had just jumped off her bike. She was shorts so short they could barely be called outerwear and a crop top that showed off her trim figure. Her Celtic tattoo circled one arm and a line of angelic script circled the other. He would have known her anywhere, even before she looked up at him with those sapphire blue eyes. 

“Hey, Uncle! Can I crash with you tonight?” Mauve grinned, her eyes sparkling with mirth. 

Maze ran up behind Lucifer and skidded to a stop at the sight of the Nephilim seated on his couch. “What is SHE doing here?”

“Sitting on my couch” Lucifer purred, walking over to join Mauve. “I would think that would be obvious Mazzie. Having problems with your eyes?”

“I thought she died” Maze growled.

“As if” Mauve said, tossing her head back. “You don’t get that lucky. Uncle, I need a bath, a drink and a bed – not necessarily in that order. Any chance of my getting it here?”

Lucifer tugged a lock of her short hair, smoothing it back in place. “You cut your hair?”

“It’s a pain when it’s long and I’m riding a hog. It’ll grow out. So – about that bath?”

Lucifer smiled. “You know where the bath is. Do you have clothes or is this what you will put back on? Not that I’m complaining.”

Mauve laughed. “You never change, do you? No – I don’t have a change of clothes but I’m sure at least ONE of your playmates has left something I can use. If not – I can always punt and borrow your silk pajamas again.”

Lucifer laughed, his voice ringing out into the club.


	7. Chapter 7

Chloe tossed her notebook on her desk and settled into her chair with a sigh. It was late and she hadn’t had dinner yet. Dan had Trixie for the night so there was no reason to hurry home and the investigation of the murder of the L.A. Demons members was in its early stages. Strangely enough, Lucifer hadn’t popped up at the crime scene like he usually did, which made her wonder of there was something else behind this crime he didn’t want to deal with. Something that might be related to the two Riders who had shown up in her office and were now camping out not far from her crime scene. She rubbed her temples, feeling the start of a headache. 

“Detective Decker?” a soft, voice asked. “May I be of assistance?”

Chloe looked up into a pair of crystal blue eyes in a lightly tanned, somber face. “Michael?” she gasped, looking around at the others in office. Nothing seemed to be different, people were still walking around as though a stranger hadn’t just appeared in their midst. “What are you doing here?”

He shrugged, his face expressionless. “I have come looking for two of the Riders. I think, perhaps, you might have already met them.”

Chloe looked up at the Archangel, remembering the last time she had seen him, rising up from the ground with his huge wings spread and blood flowing from numerous wounds, as he destroyed anything that came within range of his rage. She couldn’t help noticing he was back to his “mortal” form, his expensive silk suit (a direct riff on what she had seen Lucifer wear). Most interesting was the badge holder hanging from his pocket. “You’re a cop?” she asked, dubiously.

He looked down at the badge. “Yes – Scotland Yard. Your captain will receive notice that I will be here to study American gang behavior. One of the Yard’s higher echelon owed us a favor and was happy to oblige me. I am, after all, the patron of Police and soldiers.”

“Okay – but does this actually have anything to do with two big, burly motorcycle dudes named Ares and Thanatos?”

Michael blinked. “They are Avatars of War and Death.”

“Yes – Lucifer told me” she said, pretending not to see the tightening of his jaw at the sound of his brother’s name.

“I’m sure he did” he grimaced. “They are here for a purpose. I must see that they do it with the minimum of chaos.”

“Wonderful” Chloe sighed. “Not what I wanted to hear. There has already been a crime committed not far from where they are camped out.”

“I will speak to them” he said quietly. He hesitated for a moment. “I must ask, have you seen Mauve?”

“Mauve?” Chloe asked, surprised. “But I thought…” 

“It was a fleeting hope. My brothers believe the Riders would have summoned her before their hunt but…” He stepped back, his eyes hooded. “I had hoped if she returned she would contact you.”

“What about Lucifer?” she replied, looking briefly at her phone. “Maybe he would know. The Riders announced themselves to him as well as to me.”

“As you might imagine, I would prefer not to speak to my brother if it can be helped.” Michael turned and started out. 

“Wait? How do I get in touch with you?” Chloe asked, concerned.

“I will contact you” he said, disappearing into the hall.

“Of course you will” she thought.


	8. Chapter 8

Chloe looked around the club with a jaundiced eye, easily the most fully clothed women in the place. The music jumped deep under her feet. Strobes lights pulsed chaotically. LUX’s dance floor overflowed with the excess of its revealers, oozing to the packed tables and booths. Maze tended bar, oblivious to the routine of it all, with a scowl that would have curdled cream—especially reserved for the pet human…

“Is Lucifer in?” Chloe called over the pulsating beats, waving off a glass of wine.  
Maze’s hazel eyes moved to the ceiling, referencing his private apartments above. “Up there – with company.” She scowled at the detective, her distaste for the human’s company obvious.

Chloe narrowed her eyes, considering the additional information. Duly noted. Sighing, “Right, Thanks!” She started through the throngs to the elevator. Normally, she wouldn’t have bothered him after hearing he was otherwise occupied, but with both the Riders and Michael in residence she needed all the help she could get. Tapping anxiously, arms folded, waiting for the car to stop. It dinged at the floor, sweeping open. She decided to at least give him the minute to put something on, knocking on his closed bedroom door.

“Lucifer?” No squeal of interruption, or hastily called ‘just a minute!” Not waiting for the invitation in, because the door wasn’t even locked, “Lucifer, we need to--.” 

Lucifer glanced from his lounging on a plush sofa, his “guest’ snuggled up against his side, wearing a pair of his black silk pajamas. …Mauve peered around with a broad smile. “Hey, Chloe!”

Chloe blinked, stunned, then frowned. “…I thought you were dead. It would have been nice to have known different…”

Mauve was immediately repentant. “I’m sorry. I really did mean to get back to you when the boys first summoned me here but getting them settled has been a real pain in the ass.” She lightly punched her uncle in the side. A possessive arm remained around her shoulders. “Why didn’t you call her while I was in the shower?” 

“I thought you would want to do it yourself” He smiled, his protest almost none existent.

Chloe’s frown became more wanly tight lipped, “What is with you and his pajamas? Every time I see you here, you’re wearing his clothes.”

“They’re silk! I mean, really, how can I resist? Besides, they sort of smell like him. This is comforting, at least to me. I have a real thing about scents.”

Lucifer’s head tilt suggested surprise, fairly purring, “Really? What do I smell like?”

Mauve answered with thought: “Fire and sex. Mmm, kind of both. Not sure how to explain it. But it’s all you, so it’s comforting to me.” She grinned up at him.

Chloe was struck by how much alike they looked when they smiled, and there was a lot of smiling here. “Well, I hate to spoil this happy reunion, but you should know that Michael is here as well.”

Lucifer instantly lost his smile. “What does my brother want?”

“He’s concerned about the chaos the Riders will bring into our world.” Chloe shrugged, dropping —more like flopping, if the weariness she felt all of sudden had its way, into the sofa’s matching recliner, before the duo. “There was an incident this evening, with multiple fatalities and injuries. It occurred not far from where I found the Riders motorcycles. Not far from the warehouse where…” She trailed off, looking at Mauve. The mention of Michael hadn’t brought any of Lucifer’s emotion to her—no emotion, at all, actually. “But I guess you already know where I’m talking about.”

“Yes – that was their idea. Those boys are not terribly sensitive about feelings, especially mine. And I don’t remember much about it, anyway. They’re comfortable in the warehouse, but I kind of like showering. So…Uncle has kindly invited me to stay with him for a while.” This time her smile had teeth behind it. 

“I doubt Michael will agree to that.” Chloe said, looking intently from Lucifer to his niece. It was uncanny, far more so than she previously remembered, “…Has anyone ever said you two look so much alike you could be twins?”

Lucifer chuckled quietly, ironically, “Probably why Michael is so uncertain around you.” He ran his thumb tenderly along Mauve’s cheek. “..Little brother sees too much of me in you…”

Mauve shrugged, wholly unconcerned, not acknowledging his touch, as if it was naturally   
supposed to be, “Better I look like you than either of those two nit-wits I’m riding with now. I mean, really, talk about ten miles of bad road! You know, at least War cleans up well if he wants to. Death is a lost cause – he insists on looking at everyone like their on their last legs and he’s available to push them over.”

“What exactly is going on?” Chloe asked abruptly, a little exasperated, trying to put this conversation back on tract. Otherwise old home week wouldn’t stop between them. As it was, too much creepy vibe, even for her, knowing what she did about the two, “Michael says he’s here because of the two Riders. Thanatos is cryptic when I ask him anything. And now you two are playing house like you don’t have a care in the world! What is this and, more importantly, Mr. Civilian Consultant…does it have anything to do with my murder investigation?!”

Why she expected any more than just a shrug… luckily wasn’t holding her breath, because that exactly what she got from both. Along with a chorus of: “No clue.”


	9. Chapter 9

The next morning

Chloe rose at her usual hour, rays of freshly early morning sun pouring through the blinds. With Trixie at her father’s, there was no rush to get her off on time – just some desperately needed alone time. Time for a rather lazy shower, and a leisurely dressing, with plenty of time to eat and read the paper. Her coffee was black, a dash of creamer, stirred a creamy swirling mocha. 

A quick sip to check taste: perfect. Scanned the headlines related to the night’s murders. Nothing of startling use. Only the rote information that was ever released in a new and ongoing investigation—just the facts, ma’am. 

She frowned thoughtfully; the greatly appreciated peacefulness now working with her to organize thoughts more cohesively—if…that was possible. Last night’s complications muddied the analytical part of her mind. With all the strange creatures showing up just before the murders, finding out Lucifer’s niece had resurrected, of all things—should she really be all that surprised?—and was staying at Lux, what was just the facts, or fiction made reality, was disturbing enough to most certainly throw her off balance. She prided herself on her compartmentalization skills. They weren’t perfect, but it, and that drive to solve the case no matter what made her normally someone to be reckoned with. But these things put a different light on her normal battles. How does she fight this? All that skill and drive did little when she was but a mortal playing with the immortals, the balance of the universe at stake.

Finding out Michael was also in the game, and on her side, should have eased this, but only increased the nagging image of a powder keg with a fuse just waiting –begging—to be lit. He was Mauve’s mentor, loved her…mourned for her, and hated Lucifer even more for it. That was not a battle she was going to get in the middle of if she could help it, not matter how much she valued Lucifer’s help. 

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. Chloe found herself face to face with a wall of black silk, looking chest level at the being at her door. She blinked, tracking up to find two familiar, sharply sapphires eyes staring down at her, then cleared her throat nervously. Speak of the angel… “Michael. Oh. Uhm, Hi! Sorry, yeah, I thought you would meet me at the office?”

Taking a cue from his older brother’s play book, he was again dressed in designer sports coat and slacks. Its color range wasn’t much brighter than Lucifer’s either, black on black with a crisp white shirt for some contrast minus a tie. His ash blond crew cut not a strand out of place. Like Lucifer, he was lightly tanned with a faint glow that she caught out of the corner of her eye whenever she wasn’t actively looking for it. Handsomely angular in the face, strongly chiseled over all, the precise impression of command. It was shame that, unlike Lucifer, he never smiled. A potentially pleasing change; would give full life to that sneaking light he exhibited. 

But then that would be too incongruous: Michael was as he always would be—a soldier. 

“My apologies,” His baritone was surprising light for his size. An apt description for everything else about him: built for war, yet moved like a breeze. “I thought it best to meet you here.” Michael dipped his head in acknowledgment, eyes sweeping effortlessly behind her, the unconscious act of surveillance, forewarning. 

Chloe gathered herself, “Right. …Come in!” Stepping aside to let him through. “Where did you stay last night?”

She led him back to the kitchen, aware he was yet examining the setting, analyzing it for possible dangers, possible weapons. She was unnerved, and slightly amused. No wonder he and Lucifer didn’t get along, other than the obvious reasons: carefree and wild versus uptight and paranoid…“I went back to St. Anselm’s. Father Torres was kind enough give me access to a room in the sanctuary. The church was as close to home as I felt I could go right now.” 

She offered him a seat. He declined, instead peeling off to consult the pictures displayed on the wall, especially those of Trixie. “Your child is here?” Sounded perplexed he might have missed that, but intrigued by the prospect. 

“No – she’s with my ex right now.” Chloe poured herself another cup of coffee, “Can I offer you a cup?”

“No,” He replied, adding as an afterthought, “Thank you.”

Chloe put the carafe back, stirring the creamer anew, noting the flush of caffeine was faster this morning. Or maybe it was how Michael had chosen to look upon her now: judging, tallying…whatever it was he wanted of her. Their previous meeting had been quick, violent, and distanced by his mission. Last time, her element had been tossed to the winds of his, and she’d merely followed, rather ineptly, to be perfectly honest. 

Here he was, back again, this time the score slightly less weighted against Chloe. Because this time he was offering assistance, willing it to be on equal ground. Not at all like Lucifer, whose help came with strings attached. So how come, Chloe wondered, shuffling the paper into order, she was more nervous around the archangel Michael, patron saint of Cops and Soldiers and guardian warrior Prince of Heaven, than she was the Devil? Not flustered, put-off, annoyed, but butterflies in the stomach, heart trippingly nervous? As if anything she did would ever be good enough? She suddenly had a fleeting feeling of sympathy for Mauve, wondering if the girl had EVER felt like she was good enough, fast enough – even though it was obvious to Chloe that to Michael she had been that and more. 

Instead of masking her fiddling as busy finger work, Chloe ventured to get the conversation on that common ground he was here for, “I was reading about last night’s massacre.” He tipped his head to the side just an inch, a patient get-on-with-it gesture, hands folded primly at the small of his back, “We didn’t find much at the scene to identify what might have started the brawl, or who ended it. Did you have a chance to talk to the Riders last night?”

Head returned to normal angling. A pensiveness tainting his clear gaze as it sought the floor, “No – they are staying in the shadows and out of my sight. My relationship with them is strained at best.” A paradox of sweet and sour laced his words, “…They were fond of Mauve. Thought me too…strict.” 

The sharp break in his tone at Mauve’s name instantly tickled the hair on the back on Chloe’s neck with goose pimples. Sheer sense of loss and regret buffeted her in copious waves, alarmingly out of place for her…but not for Michael. It was Chloe’s turn to tip an assessing squint over him; the hard bunching at the shoulders, the clenching of bicep and triceps as hand closed over clenched fist behind him. The jaws clenched as though to bite back words he would rather not hear.

It was his loss and regret she was feeling.

Chloe swallowed, moved, knowing if it were her…and Trixie, in his and Mauve’s place…well, she couldn’t be so composed about it, that’s for sure. Yet just able to stare into the cooling depths of her cup, offering nothing put respectful quiet, hoping he’d break first.

But the quiet stretched longer than was comfortable for her, with him…he was too much of a presence to be brooding, especially if projecting emotions was not outside his abilities.

Chloe’s courage tripped over, and she moved from around the table to close distance, still conscious of his need for space. “Listen,” she began with gentle sympathy, “I have to tell you. I saw Mauve last night.”

The change was instantaneous, yet heavily constrained. He squared himself, top to the bottom of his feet. The rage she’d known from him that night of Mauve’s death running him through. Chloe stepped back when he reached full height in his reproach of the information. “Where?” Simple, straightforward, bitingly harsh.

She regretted giving him the reins to an issue that was visibly tormenting him, but if anything was going to fix what had been broken between he and his student, it was the truth—the one thing that had split them up before. She met his gaze, amazed to find that those clear blues had dropped to the same shade as her, “At Lux – with Lucifer.” 

The buffeting waves returned; wince worthy in their rawness of pained anger. 

This time, he caught her reaction, realizing Chloe was susceptible. A brief break in the storm, as if he wanted to apologize in haste. That passed, the shields slamming into place again as he turned away, hiding himself and his emotions from the mortal. “We must go.” The light baritone was studiously held, “I suspect my brother will be waiting for you.” 

Chloe swallowed, mug bobbing half way to her lips, and then down again, giving up on the action. “Sure.” She left the cup on the counter, grabbing her keys and cellphone next to it. Michael was already at the door, ignoring her readying. On the way out, she snagged a light jacket, just in case, running the next question through her mind several times before deciding to just ask it. “Maybe we should call and let Lucifer know we’re coming?” 

Michael’s favorite quizzical look flashed her way, somber, but tinged with confrontation. “Why?” The wheels turning on the question were lost, because beyond the surface, he was unreadable. On the surface, then…it appeared the idea of forewarning in this case was not necessarily in his mind. What was…she shuddered to think. So far, standing on the side of Archangel was more complicated and strings attached than Lucifer ever could be…

“They might not be awake yet.” Chloe defended neutrally, “It was late when I saw them last night.” Michael went out ahead. Giving her no response either way, knowing full well she hadn’t expected one. He was already entrenching himself in the implications. Chloe dropped in step behind him, wanly considering the family situation they were walking into…and fully expecting to regret it.


	10. Chapter 10

At Lux

“Do you really need to dress like that?” Lucifer complained, watching Mauve walk around his apartment. “You look like a cheap hooker.” He eyed her shorts and cropped tank top with disdain. Lucifer hated the clothes but he had to admit her figure was lovely to look at, all long legs and slender build with no tan lines that he could see. Her leather jacket was thrown on the sofa. 

Mauve smiled wickedly. “That’s the point, Uncle. The boys are playing at being bikers and I’m supposed to be War’s “old lady”. Lucky thing I’m a good actress, right? I’m not sure what exactly we’re looking for – yet. Guess I’ll find out when the boys find the trail.” She lifted her foot and planted it on the sofa between his legs. “Be a dear and help me get this boot laced up, please?” 

Lucifer’s smile was lascivious. “I’d be glad to…” leaning forward to pull the laces. 

Suddenly, Maze was flying into the room, an angry look on her lovely face. “He’s here!”

“By “he” I’m assuming you mean…?” Lucifer asked, smugly.

“The Archangel – your brother Michael.” Maze snarled. She gestured towards the door angrily. “He’s in your house!”

“Really? By all means let my brother come on up” Lucifer replied, his eyes alight with glee. He looked up at his niece with a smile. “We’d be happy to see him, won’t we, luv?”

Mauve shrugged, not moving her foot. “Sure – why not?” She raised her arms above her head, elongating her torso and stretched her muscles, releasing the kinks. “As long as I can get out of here when Ares shows up to pick me up.”

“I’m sure something can be arranged.” Lucifer mused.

Chloe followed the sound of Maze’s voice, entering the apartment. Her heart sank at the tableau in front of her. “Am I interrupting?” she called out.

Michael slid in beside her, his cold eyes sweeping over his niece and brother. He pulled his jacket off and tossed it to the young woman. “Cover yourself. You are a soldier not a camp follower.”

Mauve tossed it back with a snarl. “What would you know about camp followers? I am more than covered. Not my problem you don’t like what you see.” She looked her mentor up and down with a wicked grin. “After all, it’s not like you haven’t seen it before.”

“You were a BABY!” Michael responded shortly, his eyes blazing. 

Mauve shrugged. “Again – not my problem.” She cocked her head as a heavy tread sounded coming up the stairs. “And there is my ride.” She pulled her foot off the couch and leaned over, giving Lucifer a quick kiss (and a quick peek down her shirt). “Later, uncle.” 

“Later, sweetie” Lucifer replied, settling back to watch the fireworks.

“We need to talk” Michael growled, stepping in front of her. “Now!”

“Is there a problem?” Ares gruff voice preceded him into the room. He was even scruffier (if that was even possible) than the last time Chloe has seen him. 

“No problem” Mauve replied, giving her mentor a little shove. “Someone just needs to get a life.” She started past the archangel, tossing her jacket over her shoulder.

Michael’s arm shot out and grabbed her wrist. “You will not walk away from me” he ordered.

Mauve pulled her arm back, twisting it to release herself from his grip. “I will do whatever I want whenever I want and you will not stand in my way.”

Ares threw his shaggy head back and roared with laughter. “You see? This is why she should be one of the Riders. She has spirit!” 

Mauve smiled thinly. “That sounds like a good idea, Ares. Let’s talk about it on the way back to the warehouses.” She looked over at Chloe. “If these two try to push you around – push back. They’ll catch on eventually, right bro?” she asked, looking at Ares.

“Right you are, little sis” Ares agreed, cheerfully, leading her out of the room, closing the door on the tension they were leaving behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my awesome beta reader who brings more detail to my story.


	11. Chapter 11

Mauve and Ares moved swiftly through the empty club, not waiting to see who might follow. Ares scanned the street as they exited the club, looking for anything that didn’t fit. The only things that didn’t fit were the two huge bikes and his equally large brother. Ares mounted his cycle with Mauve jumping on behind him. She hit him on the arm. “Let’s go before World War III starts up there.”

“Problems?” Thanatos asked mildly, his eyes unemotional. 

“Not if we get out of here fast” Ares said with a wolfish grin. He peeled out into the street, his brother close behind. Mauve glanced back briefly then settled in for the ride.

In Lucifer’s apartment, Chloe looked from one brother to the other, wondering how far down the stairs she could get before they started to tear the building out from under each other. From the look on Maze’s face, she was probably wondering the same thing. “Michael? Lucifer? I’d like to get working on this case before it goes stone cold.”

“Of course, Detective, just let me get me get dressed.” Lucifer looked his brother up and down with an evil grin. “Pull up a chair, brother. Relax, put your feet up. It’s going to be a long day.”

“I will wait for you in the car, Detective” Michael replied through gritted teeth. He turned on his heel and stalked out.

Lucifer watched his brother leave and shrugged. “Can’t imagine what his problem is. Can you?”

“Oh please!” Chloe exclaimed. “How else do you expect him to be? You know he adores the girl! You saw that in the warehouse. He would have done ANYTHING to protect her, even give up his soul. And then you both play with his heart like it was a tennis ball. How else do you expect him to act?”

Lucifer eyed her quizzically. “It sounds like you are becoming fond of my all-too-upright little brother.”

“I don’t like seeing anyone being tortured. Not even if it makes you feel homesick.” She turned and marched after her guest, leaving Lucifer staring after her with concern.

“Why is she mad at me? I’m not the one who started this.” Lucifer complained. 

“Of course it’s your fault. You encourage her. She’d shut down her act if you didn’t egg her on.” Maze glared at her master. “You enjoy the chaos you create up here just like you did when we were in Hell.”

Lucifer shrugged. “It’s entertaining. And I do feel for the girl. Having to deal with my brothers must be a total bore. I just want to bring a little interest into her life – and a little salt in my brother’s wounds.” He smiled grimly. “It’s going to be such an interesting day, don’t you think Mazzie?” 

As soon as Lucifer had joined them, Chloe drove back to the crime scene. The silence in the car was oppressive, with both men studiously avoiding even looking at each other. The alley was deserted as she pulled in, trash blowing around the car. No sign of the bikers who had been there previously. No sign of the Riders and their associated Nephilim. No sign that anything unusual had happed at all except the dried blood stains on the concrete. “Okay – so let’s see what we might have missed last night. Lucifer, you stay with me, Michael…”

Michael had already started walking the scene, ignoring both Chloe and his brother as he paced out the area. His blue eyes scanned the outer edges of the crime scene, looking for something that might be not human. He looked towards “that” warehouse, ruthlessly pushing away the emotions that rose in his chest at the memories it brought up. The Rider’s were not there, or at least not visible. “There are boot prints here, detective” he called out, pointing out some partial marks just behind an oil drum. “Someone was here, possibly during event. There are blood drops in the prints.”

Lucifer indifferently looked at the prints. “Interesting – not. Really, detective, why aren’t we talking to the survivors? I’m sure I could convince them to open up to me.”

Michael continued to ignore Lucifer’s babbling, following the prints as they moved towards street. Once there, they seemed to disappear. “I doubt he would have parked his motorcycle along the street. Perhaps he was taken away by one of the non-injured members who fled the scene.” He walked back to where the shooting started, poking around the trash until something caught his eye. A vial, still containing white powder, rolled out of the mountains of beer bottles and fast food wrappers. Using a handkerchief, he lifted it to his nose and sniffed hesitantly. The scent was medicinal but not anything he recognized. 

Chloe walked up to him, looking up and down the street. “Find anything?”

Michael shrugged. “Someone left your murder scene, probably finding a ride with one of others. But I did find this.” He handed over the vial, covering it carefully with the scrap of cloth. “You will need to have this analyzed.”

“Street drugs are common around here but they usually don’t come in tiny glass vials.” She held it up to the sun with a frown. “I’ll see what the lab has to say.”

Lucifer wandered over, bored. “Drugs? How gauche. I was hoping for something a little more interesting.”

Michael gave his brother an inscrutable look and walked back to the car. “Where do we go from here, detective?”

Chloe tucked the vial in her pocket. “Back to the precinct. Hopefully last night’s canvas of the area turned up something.” She and Lucifer followed the silent archangel back to the car and headed down the road.

Thanatos stepped from the shadows as soon as they were gone, looking at the bloody boot prints with interest. He pulled another glass vial, exactly like the one Michael had found, from his vest pocket. “Ares will be interested in this” he thought, watching the car disappear.


	12. Chapter 12

Archangel and Fallen studiously ignore one another after their return to the precinct, differing personalities visibly displayed. Lucifer keeping up a bawdy stream with female and male alike, attention span nonexistent, wandering eye and tongue practiced; while Michael remained to himself, on task, seemingly oblivious to the activity, as he committed the case file to memory. His stillness was as unnerving as Lucifer’s gift of gab was annoying

The lab had promised to put a rush on the tox screen for the glass vial. Chloe hoped whatever they found would give her and her companions more to work with before these two brothers decided to take out their frustrations on each other. 

“Anything in there we missed?” she asked when Michael put the file down, a slight frown on his somber face. 

“Not that I could find” He admitted, eyes affixed to a spot over her shoulder. His ability to project his voice effortlessly played out in almost lyrical form, deep, smooth---sad, …“It is no different from any other obscenity that man perpetrates on man.” He moved to lean on her desk, dropping his gaze to his hands, considering them as though they were the perpetrators, and then that same gaze moved to her, neck corded by the action, “Father loves you as he once loved his angels. We are…of Him, but man is Beloved of Him. A great divide…a great gift, this paradise He created.” The sadness became bitterness, “Yet man covers it in filth and darkness— Lucifer again finds it appealing…”

Chloe frowned, working her pen between fingers. “Not everything is darkness in this world.” She began gently, striving for the example to drive it home, “… Father Torres: he tries to create opportunities for the neighborhood kids to be something productive, have a safe place to go to, make the right decision.”

Michael shifted in his leaning, the bitterness smoothed out, but the sobriety didn’t. He recalled the priest’s surprise at seeing him enter the church mortal, having last witnessed him in angelic form; wings spread as he alighted to claim his child. Torres graciously offered a bed, diplomatically not inquiring as to why the General of God’s own should be in the mortal world. “…You’re right, of course. It is men like him… that renews my faith in this world.”

“Having a crisis of faith, little brother?” Lucifer chose that moment to saddle up beside him, too close, too himself, feigning surprise. Chloe sat back as Michael straightened by a mere relaxing of core, half turning to cover her and to cut Lucifer off from her line of sight. Lucifer conceded enough ground to size him up and down. He fairly licked his lips, oh so sweetly asking, “Does daddy know?

Michael’s response was cool, sneering with teeth behind it for emphasis, “He knows you’re unchanged—the Beast you were then, you are now.”

Lucifer coiled closer, head faintly tilted in confrontational curiosity, “Don’t want to talk about daddy dearest?” Black eyes glittering as Michael’s did, “ …How about we talk about our little Mauve?”

The sneer vanished, and Chloe swallowed at what replaced it, carefully standing up, trying to nonchalantly move potential projectiles out of reach. 

He jabbed again, “I’m betting she’s having a lovely time playing domestic with War, slumming around the biker set.”

The physical temperature dropped. 

“Lucifer, leave him alone.”

“—No!” Michael’s knuckles threatened to pop through flesh, voice excruciatingly harsh, “Do not defend me, Detective.”

“Yes, he’s quite capable, Detective, I assure you.” Chloe shot Lucifer a damning look at his cheerful purring.

Michael was much clearer in his disgust. He invaded Lucifer’s space, overtaking every inch, making it his own. Chloe took in the whispers from perturbed passersby, smiling quickly at them, and hissing in turn. “Both of you, stop it!”

The Archangel further imposed himself, bristling as a finely tuned weapon, eyes the most potent daggers of all. He twisted the hurt and the harshness like a noose around Lucifer’s neck, tightening low in his own throat, “Does it please you to speak to me about her in that way? Does it bring you joy the thought of my child in that creature’s hands? Does it hearten you to know I have little choice in what she does? That it kills me…to lose her to you…!”

Lucifer imposed a bit himself, craning his neck inwards, savoring the word: “Yes”. 

“…alright, that’s enough!”

But they were deaf to her as they brawled without fists. “We both know what War is like after a few dozen drinks.” He curled his lips in his snake’s grin, “ I’m sure he’ll keep her safe – if he doesn’t forget where he left her. …Or that she’s like his sister.” Snake eyes to shark eyes, “She leaves little to the imagination quite well…doesn’t she…in her leather and heels. All legs, all smooth white flesh…”  
Michael’s demeanor changed, the angel flushed to trade verbal barbs for fists.

Lucifer slid closer, feeling the switch himself, “And I’m sure,” he dropped his chin to ear level, slithering tone too, stabbing the final knifeblow into his brother’s inflamed heart, “ She’ll be happy to shed that image of the virgin Huntress you saddled her with…”

Michael flinched violently, surging from stillness to brutality in a heartbeat. Lucifer jerked, grinning madly. Chloe gasped, all but lunging across her desk, “ENOUGH!”

It was her hand on Michael’s arm, feeling the trembling muscle there, that actually stopped him. His still fingers twitched at the proximity of Lucifer’s throat. He looked at her splayed fingers; small, thin…like Mauve’s. He exhaled rapidly, anchoring himself to this plane, to this reality…to her. He nodded shortly that she could remove herself.

Lucifer snorted, extracting from chokehold, fixing his collar.

Chloe huffed, rubbing her forehead in exasperation. “Look. Either the two of you declare a truce or one of you goes home – and it won’t be Michael.” Her glare leveled Lucifer’s happy afterglow of torment. He was virtuously indignant, “If you insist.” 

But oh-so secretly pleased to have gotten a reaction. Some things just remain…

Michael found a chair and flopped into it. He worked cramping fingers like he did at curbing the tidal wave slamming his heart and mind.

He shouldn’t have lost control—he had more sense than that, to fall for the forked tongue. And…then…realistically, he steadied his hands in his lap, he should have come to terms by now that Mauve’s stay in the mortal realm would bring her in contact with that of its more lustful drives…. She wasn’t a little child anymore—his little girl— more interested in books, adventuring and exploration, than boys. He had hoped and ardently prayed her strength of character would protect her. His hands clenched on their own accord. Well. Wrong wouldn’t cover his error…

Chloe warded Lucifer off with another well aimed glare. She couldn’t tell if touching Michael again would upset him more than help this time. He must have felt her questioning…and her sympathy. She smiled carefully, coaxing. She thought she had him pegged, but then more of those shields sprung up, and he looked away.

Trixie was still at that age where little boys were of no interest unless they played the same games she did, but one day she knew her reality would be Michael’s: her little girl no longer a baby. And…if she didn’t have a good cry, and a good cleansing yell herself, well, she was stronger than she gave herself credit for…

 

Dan picked that moment to stroll in, holding the lab results. “Waiting for this?” He glared at Lucifer, bothered by the strange docility he returned in kind, but his glance at Michael was that of a dim memory trying to force itself to the forefront. He shook that odd echo away. 

Chloe snatched the file, running her finger over the results. “What is this?” she asked, puzzled. “I don’t recognize any of this.” Her quick call down to the lab for confirmation left her staring at the report in consternation. “Well, that didn’t help.”

Michael was composed enough to newly contemplate the business at hand, “What did your lab have to say?” 

“That it’s some new street drug – at least one they recognize. They’ll run some more test and get back to me. So we’re essentially right where we started. Nowhere.”

\---

In an Internet Café

Mauve sipped her latte, scrolling through LAPD’s lab results of the first glass vial found at the crime scene. She and Ares were unlike any other couple here, but he had that je ne sais quoi that…precluded any approach or conversation otherwise…She turned her monitor for him. Eyes narrowed, Ares read through its entirety, then leaned back, mind whirling. “I recognize this.”

“Thanatos thought you would” Mauve returned the angle towards her. “That’s why he wanted me to get you to look at it.”

“I need to talk to a few people but I believe I can narrow down where and when I saw this drug.” Ares’ cadence quickly became more cultured, eyes gleaming with intelligence he always chose to hide, for greater effect later. The look was the act. “Speak with Detective Decker. See what they might have found in their initial sweep. We will meet at the warehouse tonight.”

Mauve agreed, but glanced down at her clothing. “If I show up at the precinct looking like this I’ll probably get arrested on suspicion. Lux first to change.” She rose from her seat, taking her coffee with her. Ares quelled the retreat was a sharply possessively hold on her arm, his hand covering the extend of her forearm

“Problem?” She purposively kept the question mild.

“It would not be wise to return to Lux.” 

“Why?”

“Because,” Ares dragged his gaze to forthright and full on hers, “My dearest …little sister, you have two archangels, Fallen and First Prince, both vying for your attention. Both quite capable of drawing blades for that privilege. One sees you as his child, the other, a beauty to add under his belt. Neither of them is willing to back down – especially Michael to Lucifer. The history isn’t there for that, nor will he ever give in to such a possibility, no matter the issue. Your last adventure with the Archangel left him confused about his feelings for you…and yours for him. A confused Archangel is a dangerous Archangel; a confused Michael…is the War of Heaven all over again, and his Fall.”

He let her go, aware her appreciation for the speech was lacking—Mauve’s coping mechanism as much as his act of hardened intent. “… I can drop you at one of our nests. You can change into something less…revealing, there.” 

At last, something she could use…“Don’t like what you see?” Mauve arched a brow.

Ares heaved a put upon sigh, grinning nevertheless, “You’re an inveterate tease…But a pretty one. Now let’s be off. The sooner I can get to my contacts, the better.”

Mauve tossed her empty container into the nearest garbage, returning halfway to him with a frown as she shrugged her jacket on, “This drug connection might be a good way to explain the end of the hunt. But it does nothing to get us closer to our real quarry. …Or does it? Are we sure the boy is really of angelic blood – like me?”

“We won’t know until we find him.”


	13. Chapter 13

Chloe dropped the phone back on the desk in frustration. This day was turning into one annoyance after another. “He hung up on me!” she groused. One disappointment after another, starting with the lab results on the drug residue. None of her normal contacts had recognized the mixture nor had they seemed all that interested in helping her to find out. She had begun to feel like someone didn’t want that information to be found but she couldn’t pinpoint who or why. Lucifer had continued to take digs at his brother until Chloe had insisted he leave. The club owner had protested the unfairness of the situation until she had threatened to ban him from any further crime scenes, then had stalked out without another word. Now, her taskforce contact had hung up in mid conversation.

Michael looked up at her calmly. “Who did?” 

“My contact at the DEA” she groused, glaring down at her empty note pad. “One minute he’s more than happy to talk to me about this drug residue we found at our crime scene, the next minute he’s shining me off and hangs up. It’s almost like…”

“Like he doesn’t want you to find out any more about this residue” a voice agreed. Mauve strolled into the bullpen, looking considerably different from the woman they had seen that morning. Gone were the shorts and low cut blouse, replaced by a dark tailored suit with a dark blood red shirt covered by a black silk jacket. Her short hair was neatly brushed back from her pretty face with a tendril or two escaping around her ears. Onyx half-moon earrings were in her ears and a badge holder was visible from the pocket of her jacket. The woman who had looked like a biker’s whore that morning now looked like a corporate lawyer. She stopped at the edge of the desk, ignoring the still figure seated opposite the detective. “So – where’s my dear uncle?”

“Gone back to the club” Chloe replied, her eyes darting from a silent Michael to his former student. The Archangel’s eyes were fixed on his beloved student with an unreadable expression. His hands were flat in his lap, fingers flexing reflexively. “What are you doing here?”

“Ares sent me” she shrugged, looking for a chair. “It is possible our hunt and yours may be for the same individual. He needs to know what you’ve found out about the murders.”

Michael rose stiffly and offered her his seat, stepping silently to one side as she slid into it, careful not to touch her, fearful he would be tempted to pull her into his embrace. His eyes raked over his former student, settling on the lightly tanned skin of her throat. He dared not look up any further, afraid of what he would see or not see in her eyes. The events of that morning still sat like a burning stone in his heart. “Since when did you become War’s servant?” Michael growled darkly.

Mauve sighed as she settled in her chair. “I’m not getting into this with you. If you want to pick a fight with someone come by the club tonight. I’m sure Lucifer will be more than happy to oblige you. I, on the other hand, have a hunt to conduct.” She settled into the seat, crossing her ankles primly. 

“What are you hunting?” Chloe asked, suspiciously, feeling the tension rise between the two beings in front of her. 

“Not sure yet, I’ll know my quarry when I see it.” Mauve smiled coolly. “But back to the shooting…” She glanced across the desk, taking in the definite lack of notes and folders denoting the slow progress of the case.

“Is there something about this shooting that is unique?” Chloe asked.

“Perhaps” Mauve said, hesitantly, not sure how much she could share. “Ares will know more…”

“Call him what he is” Michael erupted suddenly, unable to keep his feeling bottled up any longer. “He is the personification of War.” His voice had deepened, a sense of disgust echoing in its depths. That his child would be with the representation of man’s inhumanity to man was more than he could bear. That his Father would even consider making her a Rider of the red horse, the tip of the spear at the start of an Apocalypse was something that broke his heart.

“He is Ares. It is what he prefers unless he’s on the battlefield” Mauve protested, suddenly very protective of the huge Rider. He was always so kind to her, so encouraging. She wasn’t willing to stand and hear him insulted by a being she knew could be as blood thirsty as he accused the Rider of being. “Since he and his brothers have kindly taken me into their sanctuary I think it would be only polite to call the man by the name he prefers.”

“Man?” Michael snarled. “He is a creature, the embodiment of all the horrors of warfare.”

“And yet he’s the one who offered me a bed when I was lost, a home when I was homeless and a purpose when I was adrift” she threw back at him, her eyes cold. “I awoke with no memory of my life before that moment, woke in of all places the stalls where the Riders keep their horses. Ares and Thanatos told me whatever I wanted to remember they would help me retrieve. They all took turns helping me to find my way back to my memories, to find my way back to the position set aside for me. They took me to War, to watch the End of Days of a realm and comforted me when I was overwhelmed by the pain and death I experienced. They helped me to learn how to be an Avatar again, trying as best as they could to abide by Father’s commands to train me for the War horse. They gave me freedom to decide my fate which is more than I can remember you ever doing.”

Michael’s face went pale under his golden tan and his fists clenched in controlled anger. “With your permission, detective, I have other matters to attend to. I will return presently.” He turned and marched out of the room, taking a cloud of darkness with him.

“Why did you do that?” Chloe gasped. “Can’t you see how much losing you hurt him?”

Mauve sighed, suddenly drained. “Re-birth robbed me of much of my memories, a product of my mixed blood, but I do remember what my lapse in judgment nearly cost him. If he returns to the Father at least I can’t hurt him anymore. It is best if he forgets I was ever at his side.” She stared down at her hands, willing them to stop trembling. 

“What are you talking about?”

Mauve looked at her, the cold mask slipping away. “There are things I wish I hadn’t remembered, things I still see in my worst nightmares. I screwed up, letting something dark and horrible into my head and because of that I nearly… I nearly forced him to lose his grace to protect me. To Protect ME! I’m not worth the loss of the First Prince of Heaven, not me. Not the child of a nephilim and a descendant of Caine. Better he should hate me than take that risk again.” She looked away, her eyes bright.

Chloe sighed, mentally strangling the urge to shake both these powerful creatures. “You two are impossible. You both adore one another and yet neither of you will admit to it.”

Mauve shrugged, her mask back up. “Our personal issues are unimportant right now. We need to focus on the problem at hand, that white powder and its effect on the people who were killed.” She rose gracefully, one hand carefully handing the file back. “I’ll be in touch as soon as Ares found out more.” She turned and swept out of the room, disappearing from view as people moved around the room.

Outside, Michael found a quiet alley, devoid of life and stopped, his eyes moving left and right to make sure he was along. He took a deep breath, trying to calm the rage threatening to overwhelm him. “Why, Father?” he prayed. “Why? Why did you send her to them? We would have sheltered her, loved her, done whatever was needed to heal her. Was it not enough to see my brother Lucifer with her, to know he desires her and would defile her without a thought. Now I have lost her to the horrors personified in War and Death.” He looked up at the sky, his hands clenched tightly behind his back. “Help me, Father! Please!!”

A dark figure moved quietly back out to the street, remaining as silent as possible so as not to disturb the anguished plea behind him. Thanatos, Avatar of Death, walked away from the alley, his pale eyes thoughtful.


	14. Chapter 14

“So, Brother Michael suffers at the loss of our little sister?” Ares asked, flipping through the contacts on his IPhone. He grinned ruthlessly. The Avatar of War could and would use modern technology as well as sword and shield. He watched the rise of military technology in fascination, enjoying the chaos new weapons brought to the old battlefield. His brothers all found it amusing, more accustomed to the loud, boisterous persona he portrayed rather than the coldly calculating face he often used while teaching their little sister about fighting for the big picture not just the one skirmish. He found it an extension of his ability spread chaos. “I find that interesting, do you not my brother?” He reached for the tablet he had Mauve purchase for him, pulling up the wireless settings. 

Thanatos shrugged, seating himself opposite his brother. Computers bored him, their instant access to information unsettling. He preferred the quiet contemplation of books, the silence of libraries. Death preferred slow and steady quiet to the rapidity of modern life. “It is also a distraction. The girl will choose her fate no matter what he wants. And we must find this particular prey soon. The sooner we know where our quarry is the sooner we can begin the hunt.” He stared unblinking at his brother, waiting…

Ares smiled wolfishly. “Yes, I’m up for a good chase.” He glanced down at the message appearing on his phone. “Ahh…here we go. My contact is sending me something that may give us a place to start.” He pulled up his email account on the tablet and uploaded the video sent to him by his associate in the DEA. Ares set the screen on the table between himself and his brother and opened the video file, watching in silence as the security feed played in all its bloody glory. He stopped it in mid-event and closed down the device, tucking it into his jacket. “I see our prey – this could be complicated. Best we collect our sister and go in search of Detective Decker. I’m betting the girl is with the Morningstar after having to deal with the Archangel. She’ll need a drink to settle her nerves. Let us begin our search there.” 

Thanatos smiled, teeth gleaming and sharp. “Yes, by all means, let’s go visit the Devil.”

In LUX

Lucifer looked up as his niece walked into the office, her biker clothes a distant memory. Her dark jacket was slung over her shoulder and a black cloud of depression hovered over her almost palatably. “Well, this is a surprise. Where are your guard dogs?”

Mauve shrugged and seated her self at the bar. “They’ll catch up with me. For now, however, I need a drink.” She crossed her arms on the top of the bar and leaned her forehead on them, sighing.

Lucifer waved Maze off and pulled some of his personal stock from behind the bar, pouring her a stiff drink and sliding it across the bar. She tossed it back without a thought. “Should I just leave the bottle?” he asked, humorously. 

“Yes” she replied, holding out her glass. “It’s not been a good day. I might as well make it worse.” 

Lucifer sighed and poured her another drink. “So, what can I do to make your life better? I’m sure I can think of some activity to brighten your day.” He smiled his most provocative smile, leaning forward to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear.

She smiled sadly, gently slapping his hand away. “Not much you can do, uncle. Had a run-in with Michael and then ended up getting maudlin with Chloe so not really feeling this hunt.” She swirled the amber liquid around her glass. “Sometime’s I think getting my memories back wasn’t worth the heartache.”

Lucifer frowned. “Do you not remember what happened in the warehouse?”

“Oh yes, that I remember. It comes back to me in my dreams – or more specifically my nightmares. For nights I woke up screaming, my blades appearing in my hands, lashing out at anything that came close. I nearly cut Famine in half one night when he was dumb enough to try to wake me.” She grinned suddenly, her eyes lighting up in amusement. “Not that it would take much to do that considering how skinny that Avatar is.”

Lucifer snorted. “Hence the name Famine.” They both giggled like a pair of teenagers, the image of the third Horseman floating in their minds.

Mauve shrugged, the grin slowly sliding away from her face as she nursed her drink. “All I could remember when I was completely awake was the smell of corruption and blood, Michael chained in front of me with blood pouring down his body. Some nights I see myself in the dream using my knife on him, sometime I see someone else torturing him. Either way it took hours for me to calm down enough to get back to sleep.” She took a quick sip of her drink, pulling the bottle closer. “I spent a lot of time walking the Riders sanctuary to the point that I think I know their realm better than they do. Spent time in the barn with their horses too. Considering how much time I spent with those beasts I can probably ride any of them now, not just War’s red horse.”

Lucifer frowned. “Is Daddy Dearest planning on replacing one of the Horsemen? Because I have to say, my dear, you are a little on the light side to replace War.”

“And a little too compassionate” War’s hoarse voice boomed from the club entrance. He, with Thanatos at his back, was dressed for being in more civilized company. Gone were the trashed out jeans and denim jackets, replaced by neat three-piece suits without ties. Both Avatars’ long hair was neat and tied up with colored cords. All the clean-up in the world, however, couldn’t hide the chaos that followed the duo. Mauve could hear voices raised in argument just outside of the club and cars screeching to a halt quickly in the road. “Not, mind you, towards mortals. Mostly animals. My horse, for instance, would probably prefer to carry her than me. Mostly I think because of the apples she insists on giving it.”

Lucifer raised one eyebrow, eyeing his niece speculatively. “You do know it’s not really a horse, right?”

Mauve smiled faintly. “To me it is. That’s a talent I’ve been developing – the ability to make things fit into my view of reality. It’s helpful when dealing with something magic based if I can deny it its power to alter reality by making it nothing special in my mind.” She grinned mischievously at the two brothers. “Not that it works on these guys. Everything they do is out there.”

Ares reached out and grabbed her affectionately by the back of the hair and kissed the top of her head. “Thank you little sister. We love you too. Not to worry, we’ll have you turned out as a good Rider in no time, no matter what that angel thinks.” Thanatos laughed, his hollow voice echoing through the club as he watched his brother pretend to man-handle their little sister.

Lucifer smiled happily. “Yes, I’m so sure Michael will have SOMETHING to say about your trying to turn her into something like you. That will be so amusing, don’t you think?” He could just imagine the look on his little brother’s face if the Rider’s took his beloved student into their world, pulling her even further away from him. Not that there was much left of their relationship, at least not as far as he could see. 

Both Ares and Mauve rolled their eyes at Lucifer’s obvious delight at Michael’s unhappiness. Thanatos, still standing by the door, smiled thinly at the scene. “Let’s go” Ares said, pulling his sister up from her seat. “We’ve got something from one of my military contacts that your Detective Decker needs to see.” He reached around her, grabbed the bottle from the bar and took a swig, ignoring the glass in front of her. He scowled. “Far to smooth. I like something with a little bite.”

Mauve finished her drink and slid the glass back at Lucifer. “You like rot gut. Thanatos likes wine and I like any or all of the above. Next time, uncle, you might look into getting me some Guinness. I like dark beer better than scotch.”

“You like a lot of things that are dark” Lucifer purred, falling in step with the duo.


	15. Chapter 15

Chloe rubbed her temples (sharp pain from her headache centered behind her eyes) and made notes on her pad. None of her normal drug or gang contacts wanted to talk about what happened in that alley. No one wanted to talk – especially to her and especially about this case. It was as thought everyone was conspiring to bury this investigation. As if there were not enough, she had lost track of Michael. He had stormed out after his confrontation with Mauve nearly two hours previously and had not returned. He had not even returned to the church, at least not as far as Father Torres was aware. “How do you put out an APB on an archangel?” she thought to herself, concerned what type of trouble an emotionally damaged angel could do to the citizens of Los Angeles. The memory of him rising up from the ground, his armored wings extended, furiously swinging a huge sword at anything fool enough to get close to him still intruded on her dreams, leaving her sleepless and shaken in the morning. 

“Is there anything new, Detective?” Michael’s deep voice penetrated her aching head. She looked up at his somber face in surprise. Mauve had once commented that Michael and his brothers moved quietly for big men. So did Lucifer, for that matter. She should have been used to being snuck up on but it still startled her. Michael’s face was stony; his eyes shuttered again, the walls up as high as they could go.

“Nothing except this headache” she sighed, deciding not to ask where he’s been. “No one wants to talk about this case, no one wants to talk about that drug residue. It’s like I’m in an episode of the X-files and there is some grand conspiracy working in the background to keep me out of the loop.” She tossed her pen across the desk in frustration.

Michael frowned. “X-files?” He wracked his memory for the pop-culture reference. Rafael often mentioned odd things he heard on his occasional travels into the mortal realm, including references that made their way into the common culture. He didn’t recall this one. Perhaps, he thought grimly, he just hadn’t been listening.

“Never mind – too hard to explain” she sighed. She glanced behind him and her eyes grew wide at the sight of what was coming up behind Michael. “Oh no – not now! My day just got worse.” 

Michael turned and his eyes went cold. Lucifer, his wicked smile firmly in place was all but dancing into the room with the two huge but well dressed figures of War and Death close behind him. And sandwiched in between the two behemoths was the tall, slender figure of Mauve, still dressed in her corporate uniform. Ares had one large hand on Mauve’s shoulder, keeping her close to him. Michael stiffened, fighting the urge to pull her away from the Rider, away from the chaos the creature represented. “What are you doing here?” he asked, his tone tight with restrained anger.

Ares smiled, his white teeth reminding Chloe of a shark. He ignored the Archangel completely, concentrating solely on detective. “We have some information for you” he purred, his hand firmly on Mauve’s shoulder. “Specifically, there is something you should know about that drug you found at your crime scene.”

“Maybe we should take this into one of the interrogation rooms?” Mauve said quietly, standing at parade rest in front of the Riders, her hands clasped behind her back like good soldier. “There is a lot to go over and not much room to do it in.” She glanced up at Ares who nodded thoughtfully, his fingers flexing on her shoulder. 

“My thoughts exactly, little sister” Ares purred approvingly, glancing back at his brother. “It would also help to have some privacy. Some of what we need to discuss might be above your pay grade detective, but you must hear it if you are to make the right decisions.” His eyes swept imperiously across the squad room floor, dismissing most of the people he saw as nothing more than cogs in the wheel.

Chloe looked over at her Captain’s empty office. “Maybe we can use the captain’s office for this. She’s out for the day.” The detective looked around the bullpen, seeing the curious glances shot her way. This odd grouping was attracting way too much attention. “And the sooner we move it in there the better.”

Mauve looked over at the office with a frown. “No – too open. It would be better to be in an enclosed space like the interrogation room. Or we can take this back to Lux. The main club space is large enough to spread out at least until you have to open.” She glanced over at Lucifer who was watching Michael with an almost predatory gaze, ignoring everything and everyone around him. She frowned in annoyance. “Hey – pretty boy! Did you hear a word I just said?” she snapped.

Lucifer glanced back at his niece in surprise, jarred by her rough tone. A tone he had heard before – from Ares. “Did you say something?” he asked, his smile never changing.

Thanatos shook his head in amusement. “The Morningstar has other interests today.” He cocked an eyebrow at his brother, watching Lucifer with interest. 

Mauve’s smiled thinly. “I really don’t care what his “interests” are. My interest is to track down our quarry, run him to ground and end his issues once and for all. And you can either be helpful or get out of my way.” She crossed her arms across her chest and glared at the club owner, a glacial look that would have frozen a volcano. 

Lucifer snarled at his niece. “Don’t talk to me like that girl. I’m not your mentor – I don’t care if you get what you want or not.” He rose to his full height, towering slightly over his niece, as though to try to intimidate her. Ares and Thanatos exchanged amused glances, knowing the Morningstar’s tactic wouldn’t work. The girl was not the type to back down to that type of attitude. 

She stood almost nose to nose with Lucifer, blue eyes locked on his black ones, daring him to snap back at her. The atmosphere was electric around the two, with the Riders and Michael moving to stand protectively behind the dark haired nephilim and Chloe moving slightly to cover Lucifer. For a moment, the two stared at each other unblinking in their intensity. Then, almost at the same time, they both smiled and Lucifer leaned forward to plant a chaste kiss on his niece’s forehead. 

“Truce?” he asked, his voice unrepentant, his eyes gleaming with mischief. 

“Truce” she replied, rolling her eyes at him. “So, can we use the club for this debrief?” She shifted position to take his arm, digging her fingers into his arm to lock him to her side. The Riders grinned at the sight of the Lord of Hell being held in place by their little sister. Chloe gathered up her files, looking at Michael to see his reaction. The angel looked between his student, his brother and the Riders. His face was blank but his blue eyes glinting coldly. His muscles tensed as he fought the urge to punch that arrogant smile off his brother’s face. It would do no one any good but for a moment Lucifer would feel at least some of his pain. 

“Why not?” Lucifer seemed suddenly upbeat, happily patting his niece’s hand. “I’m sure Maze will be just that happy to see War, Death and my little brother back in our home again. And it’s been ages since I had a good hunt.” His voice was light but underneath there was a darker tone. The sound of a predator on the hunt.

At Lux

Maze’s eyes widened as she watched the diverse group pour into the club. Lucifer entered first, followed by his pet human who was holding a stack of files. Behind them came the two Riders, shoulder to shoulder as usual. Last in the door was the nephilim Mauve followed by her mentor Michael, who was watching his student with hooded eyes. Mauve skirted around the human wall the Rider’s formed and walked up to the bar. “Maziken – we’ll need you in this as well.”

“Need me for what?” Maze scoffed, cutting a disbelieving look at Lucifer.

“We’re going to talk about our prey, the reason for our hunt. What’s the matter demon? Don’t you like a good hunt?”


	16. Chapter 16

Mauve took the files from Chloe and laid out the documents on the bar. Ares held out his tablet to her which got added to the pile. Thanatos looked into Lucifer’s office and pulled out a large, computer flat screen and handed it off to his more technologically inclined brother. “Ares was able to contact someone in the Pentagon about your drug, Detective Decker.” Mauve began. “I’ll let him tell you about that part of this little puzzle.” She pulled up a chair beside Thanatos and looked expectantly up at her brother Rider.

Ares removed his jacket, tossed it on the chair and plugged in the screen, hooking the tablet up to it in order to show the contents more conveniently to all. “The drug was “unofficially” in development by a lab technician working for a lab with a contract to the Pentagon” he began, falling into lecture mode. He reminded Chloe of a football coach she had taken a history class under, a man who kept order in class by sheer intimidation. “It has a long, unpronounceable name but was referred to by its creator as Portable Courage. He designed it to give its user a little “extra” adrenaline rush before he faced the off to the enemy. I think the silly fool expected to be able to do human trials like the CIA did in the sixties and then sell it back to the government.” He flashed a cruel grin. “Ah, those were the days, weren’t they brother? When the CIA’s test subjects were literally throwing themselves out of windows due to a “bad acid trip” from a drug they didn’t know they had taken?”

Thanatos smiled thinly. “Yes, brother. Very good days for us indeed.”

“Oh no, you two are NOT going to take a trip down memory lane. Not today” Mauve warned, tossing a crumpled piece of paper at the big man. “Get on with this.”

“Seems like a good bottle of tequila would do the same thing and be infinitely cheaper” Chloe responded dryly.

Ares smiled broadly. “I LIKE her” he chortled. “You’re right, of course. It would be easier. I suspect its creator was looking for a little extra boost to make up for his deficiencies. No new drug is needed to help soldiers deal with fear of dying. Between alcohol and existing narcotics, there are more than enough crutches to avoid facing their mortality. No offense, my brother.”

“None taken” Thanatos whispered, taking a seat in the shadows. His dark form almost completely disappeared leaving only his grey eyes shinning in the corner. Chloe shivered, unnerved by the idea of Death sitting that close to her. Mauve, on the other hand, seemed relaxed beside the Avatar, leaning against his shoulder as she listened to his brother lecture.

“The scientist working on the drug was trying to recreate the effect created by Viking Berserkers before going into battle” Ares continued. “Problem is, he actually got what he was looking for.”

“That’s a problem?” Chloe asked, confused. She racked her brains for where she had heard about Berserkers before and mentally cursed her standard public school education for its gaps.

“It’s a problem” Mauve sniffed. “I remember that lot. Nutters, the lot of them, and smelly on top of that. They got themselves so worked up on the battlefield that they were as much a danger to their own side as they were to the enemy.”

“Hey! Those were some of my favorites!” Ares laughed, looking back at his brother. “Some of his best customers too – isn’t that right brother?”

“Yes. Quite good for business” Thanatos said quietly, absently tapping his fingers on the table. 

Mauve rolled her eyes at Ares. “Business? Really? You and your brother…”

Ares reached out and gently cuffed the girl on the back of the head. “Mind your tongue girl” he grinned, his tone affectionate. Mauve rolled her eyes at him, swatting at his hand.

Chloe watched Michael stiffen in outrage at War’s touch, a touch of jealousy behind those stormy blue eyes. “What has this got to do with the attack in the alley?” she asked, inching towards a clear path towards the door, in case Michael’s controlled anger towards the Rider’s and his brother were to slip.

“About six months ago a radical animal rights group attacked the lab where the drug was being worked on. Made a mess of the place but officially nothing went missing. Unofficially, a rather large sample of this drug was gone when the military came to take stock.” Ares carefully scrolled through various video files on the tablet and selected one to play. On the screen, images began to appear of a tour of what was apparently a large laboratory. Animal cages were piled in a corner of the lab and small agitated monkeys danced in front of the bars. The camera zoomed into a work station, test tubes and small glass vials spread all across it.

“What is this?” Chloe asked her eyes on the vials. “Those look like…”

“They are” Ares agreed, pleased she had noticed. “They are what the lab tech had used to hold his drug.” He closed the video file and started up another. This one wasn’t so clean and sterile. Chloe recognized it as a crime scene – a very bloody one. The camera panned over what appeared to be a middle-class home, very conservatively decorated. At least, it had been, before a storm of violence had blown through it. Chairs were overturned, assorted little knick knacks lay broken in the center of the room swimming in a pool of blood. “This is the next place the drug was found.”

Chloe swallowed, slightly nauseated. “Whose home is this?” she asked softly.

Ares glanced at the video. “Mr. and Mrs. Blank. Elderly couple, lived in the same house, on the same street, in the same town for nearly sixty years. Mr. Blank’s nephew hadn’t seen or heard from them for almost three days and decided to check on them. This is what he found.” He waved a hand towards the screen as the video swept over two bodies lying crumpled on the floor amidst the wreckage of their lives. The old man had obviously tried to protect his wife, his blood soaked body draped over hers. 

Mauve sighed as Thanatos leaned his head over hers, kissing the top of her head. “Seems overkill. How much damage could those old folks have done to deserve this?” she said tiredly. Michael’s eyes narrowed, cutting between the horror on the screen and the sight of his beloved student in the hands of a representation of Death. 

“You think this is bad, the next crime scene ups the violence level by a factor of ten” Ares watched the video unfold with a predatory eye, watching as the forensic team collected samples from the site and moved the dead bodies. “Watch – see right there the tech picks up something from the end table.” He stopped the scene quickly, zooming into the item the tech picked up. Although the image was slightly out of focus it was still obvious that the forensics team had found another glass vial. 

“Why would someone kill a harmless old couple?” Chloe asked sadly. “What could they have possibly done to deserve this? And how did that vial get into their house?”

“You would be surprised” Lucifer said quietly. “Sometimes the most innocent looking ones are the worst.”

Chloe glared at the fallen angel. “Lucifer, now is not a good time for your attitude…”

Mauve held up a hand. “But in this case, Lucifer is right. As it turns out, Mr. and Mrs. Blank have quite the history with their local constabulary. They once belonged to one of those apocalyptic cults that pop up every so often, the kind that believes the world is ending any day now.” Mauve stood up and traded places with Ares, looking intently at the screen. “The authorities found evidence that another person had been living in the house with them, a person they were able to identify as Mrs. Blank’s grandson Jeffery. He was the son of her daughter from a previous marriage and from what we were able to dig up the boy was something of a mystery. No one had seen him for years and then he turned up suddenly just a week before the murder.”

“Is he the one that brought the drugs into their house?” Chloe asked, looking from Mauve to Ares. 

“We have linked Jeffery to the animal rights group that hit the lab, which is probably how that vial found itself in his grandparent’s home. An APB was put out for the boy but nothing came of it.” Mauve waved a hand the screen. “By the time the police were able to put a name to the boy he had moved on to the next horror.”


	17. Chapter 17

Lucifer frowned at the photos. “The couple’s grandson – what was his name again? Jeffery what?”

Mauve shrugged. “Jeffery Blank. No dad in the picture as far as the police could tell. Mom ran off from the cult her parents had been part of and came back a few months later pregnant and high. Her parents took her in till after the boy was born then tossed her out. Woman died just a few weeks later in a car accident that at the time was labeled suspicious.”

Chloe looked at Mauve in horror. “Why would this kid take out his grandparents? They took him in when his mother died. Why would he want them dead?” She looked at the paused video of the crime scene, numbly making note of the broken photo that the old woman’s corpse was holding. The detective wondered if it was an image of her child’s son, the very creature responsible for her fate. 

“This wasn’t his first rodeo” Ares muttered quietly, glancing down at his sister. He raised one eyebrow, silently asking if that knowledge would be included in the briefing. Mauve raised one hand, waving off his inquiry.

“The local police put the boy’s fingerprints into the system, labeling him a “person of interest” in their double homicide” Mauve continued the story, opening another file from Ares tablet. Crime scene photos appeared, showing what appeared to be a dilapidated farmhouse, one that had been trashed. There were bullet holes in the walls, garbage and broken furniture strewn around. The bodies didn’t appear until the third photo, piled in the center of what was probably the living room. They appeared to be lower level drug runners with multiple weapons thrown around near the bodies. 

“What is this?” Chloe asked, squinting at the photo.

“Cartel safe house in New Mexico” Mauve replied, clicking to the next photo. “DEA had suspicions about the house – it was in the outskirts of a small town near the border, had been abandoned for some time yet there was a lot of traffic to and from the area with no explanation for it. Someone called the local DEA office, told them that there was activity in the house and they needed to investigate. The officer who took the call said the person sounded agitated and he could hear what he described as gun fire in the background. They teamed with local police to raid the house and found a blood bath.” She continued to click through the crime scene photos till she came to one taken of the forensic techs holding a plastic bag. She zoomed into the item in the man’s hands. “And see what was found at the site? Yet another of these little glass vials. And in the back bedroom the CSI’s found fingerprints on some of the beer bottles.”

“Let me guess” Chloe said grimly. “The finger prints match the teenager they were looking for in the first case, the murder of the elderly couple. Jeffrey Blank.”

Michael looked at the screen, appalled at the depravity his Father’s beloved creation was capable of. He glanced at his student, wondering at her calmness in the face of this horror. “Is there more?” he asked grimly.

Ares nodded and opened yet another file from the tablet. This was a copy of a news broadcast of a fire in a small hospital. The news crew was narrating the events as they unfolded. “This fire occurred near where the cartel safe house was raided. There is more raw footage but you can get the gist of this from the broadcast. The fire started in the psychiatric ward and quickly spread.”

“And this is related to the other cases how exactly?” Lucifer asked, for once not smiling.

“According to the hospital, a young man was admitted exhibiting symptoms of drug intoxication.” Thanatos intoned from his corner, rising to join his brother and their nephilim counterpart. “He talked about hearing voices telling him he was safe and always would be and that he thought those voices might have been responsible for killing someone. The news reports of the deaths at the safe house hadn’t appeared yet so as far as the doctors were concerned the boy was unhinged due to the drugs he had been taking.”

“How did they know he had been taking drugs?” Chloe asked.

Thanatos smiled grimly. “He was quite truthful about that little issue, even handing over a sample of what he had taken. Any guesses what it was he gave them?”

Chloe straightened. “The same drug found at his grandparents, at the safe house and at my crime scene. The same drug stolen from that commercial lab, this instant courage that should never have been created.”

“Yes – that’s what we’re allowing everyone to believe.” Mauve said suddenly, looking straight at Michael. “The story being distributed is that the drug makes the user highly aggressive and prone to hallucinations, causing users to experience something similar to what is known as “roid rage”. This, however, isn’t the whole story.” She looked down at the floor at her mentor’s feet, her face troubled. 

“What?” Chloe looked at Mauve, startled. “I don’t understand. Now you’re saying this drug doesn’t have anything to do with the murders?”

Michael rose and stood in front of his student, ignoring the rest of the group, his eyes focused on Mauve’s face. He knew her too well, could see the look on her face – that look she got when she was trying to hide something. The look she had on her face right before she ran off to Lucifer when she was a teenager. The look she had on her face every time she “thought outside of the box” during her missions and didn’t want to explain herself to him. “What aren’t you telling me, little one?”

“Really, brother, you need to have your eyes checked. She’s not little anymore.” Lucifer’s sarcasm rang through the room.

Michael ignored his brother, focusing on Mauve. “Tell me the rest of the story” he asked, his voice deep and authoritative. He looked down at her as though she was one of his Seraphim guards, waiting for a report from the field.

Mauve looked up into his blue eyes, standing at parade rest as she had done for him before when he was training her. “The drug isn’t much stronger than downing a whole lot of booze. We’ve told people that its effects are ten times worse so that the lab would take steps to destroy it – which they have done. We informed the lab tech who was working on the drug that he had achieved his dream of re-creating the Berserker rage and that is had cost multiple people their lives. The truth is that the boy is the real reason this is happening. The boy involved in this may, in fact, be either angelic blood – or has help from one of the lower level guardian angels that watch over this realm.” She looked over Michael’s shoulder to Thanatos, willing him to join in the conversation.

“The girl is right” the avatar of Death rumbled. “I have walked in the blood of all these victims and I have felt the power of a mind – not a drug – influencing the actions of those who took the lives of their fellows. Someone pushing rage and bloodlust into easily influenced minds. A mind with a familiar feel that could only be angelic in source.”

Lucifer looked between the Riders and his brother with amusement. “Really? So not all the little sheep that stayed at Daddy’s side are so placid after all.” He smiled grimly at his niece. “So little niece, I guess I’m not the oddity that I’m made out to be.”

Mauve rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Really Lucifer – not everything is about you. This is why I didn’t want to rope him into this.” She looked up into her mentor’s eyes, a small smile on her lips.

Michael’s face didn’t change expression though his eyes lightened and his body language relaxed slightly. “Like it or not, he’s involved now.” 

“So, is this kid angelic blood or not?” Maze asked, annoyed.

“We destroyed most of the Nephilim when they first began to spread over the mortal realm. Those that were not found by my brothers or myself were destroyed by the flood” Michael mused. 

“All but me” Mauve corrected, watching her teacher’s face closely. 

Michael stared back, one eyebrow raised. “You were a different story. Our Father made it clear you were different.”


	18. Chapter 18

"Different how?" Chloe asked, curious, wondering where this conversation was going.

"Prettier? Sexier? More intelligent?" Lucifer responded, his voice brittle. "I can think of any number of reasons the old man would find her much more interesting than those animals our brothers sired." Or me, he thought dourly.

"Enough" Michael responded, casting an annoyed eye on his older brother. "I know only that our Father commanded us to take her to a place of safety where she could be raised properly. We none of us questioned that command nor have we had reason to regret it." He looked down at his former student, fighting the desire to run his fingers through her long, silky hair as he had done when she was just a child. "I am certain that we ended all of the others and even if we had not most of them would not have sired progeny without killing both mother and child."

"Yet her sire" Lucifer snarled, jerking a finger at Mauve, "managed it quite well. And he wasn't any brighter than the others of his kind."

"The difference" Michael said quietly, "was that her sire was still young enough to be controlled by his mother – or possibly his mother's sire. I have always suspected the plot was Cain's not his daughter's. He would have eventually tried to bargain with our Father to lessen his punishment for killing his brother." He frowned, looking down at Mauve. "We never spoke of this to you as we had no proof. It seemed wrong to hang this dark cloud over a child over something that might or might not be true. We should have spoken to you when you were older but by that time it seemed pointless. You were not your sire's child. You were our little sister, our angel."

Mauve ducked her head, abashed, her eyes glistening. "Forgive me, my Prince, I've been so foolish and unreasonable." She leaned her forehead onto his broad chest with a sigh. "Wonderful time for me to expose this family drama to the world, isn't it? My timing with you has NEVER been great."

Her mentor leaned down, his hands on either side of her head and kissed her gently. "There is nothing you need ask forgiveness for, nothing you could ever do that would part you from me. You are my heart." He took her long, slender hands and laid them on his chest, above the sigil that was her name.

"And perhaps that's the answer to why a lower angel would do what has been done to innocent mortals" Ares mused, hiding his smile at the scene before him. He loved his friend, riding mate and "little sister" and seeing her reunited with the archangel she adored warmed his normally cold heart. Besides which, having her tight with the archangels again meant they would be less likely to interfere when he and his brothers rode out again. "Maybe this angel loves this boy as deeply as you do our sister."

"So – is there an angel missing from home?" Lucifer asked, frowning at the tableau before him. The last thing he had expected was for this little game to lead his niece back into the arms of her beloved mentor.

"Uriel will be the one to ask" Mauve mused, pulling her hands back. "But in the mean time we need to try to find the boy. All of the evidence in these cases only shows that he was there when the deaths occurred – not that he committed them. We need to find out who is influencing whom. Is it Jeffry Blank who is using this angel to his advantage or is it the angel who is the driving force? We won't know until we find them." She returned to her seat, with Thanatos beside her. The Avatar of Death put an arm around his companion and leaned into her, whispering something quietly into her ear. Chloe shuddered involuntarily at the thought of Death so close to someone so vibrantly alive. Mauve looked at her companion with a frown and shook her head. "Not now" she mouthed.

"What?" Lucifer asked, his eyes cutting from one to the other. "Care to share with the class?"

Ares frowned. "Not now" he agreed. "Better we discuss this later." He motioned to his brother, holding his fingers to his lips.

"Discuss what?" Michael asked, his voice suddenly cold. She was hiding something from him again, something she shared with the avatar of Death. It couldn't be good, whatever it was, and he feared to know as much as to be in the dark. Sometimes, as mankind often said, ignorance is bliss.

Mauve sighed and patted Thanatos on the arm. "Not something we need to discuss right now but eventually. Right now – we look for the boy. Michael, you need to get word to Uriel and see if he can find out who's missing, who is not where they are supposed to be."

"Very well" Michael replied, looking with concern from Mauve to Thanatos. "But we will speak again – later." His wings unfurled behind him as he leapt up and disappeared into the ether.


	19. Chapter 19

Pt. 19

Lucifer sighed and threw back a shot of whiskey. “Well, that was fun – not. So now that little brother is gone can we PLEASE get back to this bad, bad angel who is in need of punishment?” He smiled with glee, pouring himself another drink and offering the bottle to Ares.

Ares snatched the bottle from the Devil’s hand and poured a slug down his throat, eschewing the need for a glass. “Slow your roll boy, we need to find it and its homeboy human first.”

“Home boy?” Mauve looked at the big man in amusement. “Since when…never mind. I don’t want to know.” She reached out and tapped a file to open another file on the tablet. “One other killing on his list – and this one makes the profile a little more weighted towards Jeffrey being the instigator of these crimes.” Another set of crime scene photos appeared, these showing a bedroom decorated in pastels and frills. A bloody sheet covered the victim on the bed under a poster of One Direction. A small, slender hand was visible under the sheet, a set of bracelets made from multi-colored plastic beads hanging limply from the wrist. “This was Audrey Means, sixteen years old, home-schooled by parents who had been members of the same apocalyptic cult that the Blands had once claimed as their own. She was found dead from multiple stab wounds when her mother came up stairs to wake her for breakfast.” She flipped through the crime scene photos quickly, stopping finally on one and zooming in to the corner of the room. “Look closely. Seen anything familiar?”

Chloe squinted at the blurred image then stepped back, her eyes wide. “Is that…?”

“Yes – a small glass vial containing an unknown substance. Also finger prints found in her room match a set found in the Blank’s home. The cops were still at Audrey’s home when they received notification of the dead bodies at the grandparent’s home.”

“Why were Jeffrey’s fingerprints at Audrey’s house?” Chloe asked, her voice concerned. “Did he know her from the cult? And what is with these little ampoules of drugs being found everywhere? It’s like he’s shedding vials instead of hair.” 

“Yes” Ares replied, pacing the whiskey bottle from one hand to the other. “He probably did know her and her parents when he was younger. From what her friends said he had recently shown up in the neighborhood and had started hanging around Audrey, trying to get her attention. She didn’t seem to have much interest in him but was too polite to tell him to take a hike.” He took another swig of the booze and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I’m betting he took the drugs over to her house as a gift, thinking that she would be impressed by his exploits or by the fact he had narcotics.”

“Either way – I’m betting this was his first attack. He covered her with a sheet as though he didn’t want her to look at him after he had killed her. It and the deaths of his grandparents were very visceral – very hands on violence.” Mauve took the whiskey from Ares and took a swig. “The other deaths seemed to be more “pushed” on the victims. The drug runners, the fire at the psychiatric unit and the deaths of those bikers seemed like spontaneous combustion – the violence just appeared out of nowhere and for no reason. And in each case, Jeffrey was in the center of the situation. What if his guardian became concerned about getting him out of a dangerous situation by focusing all the “bad” people’s attention on each other and not on him?”

“Which begs the question” Thanatos asked quietly “what did the boy do to get this attention his guardian was so concerned about focused on him?” The avatar of Death stretched out an arm and took the whisky bottle from Mauve and set it down carefully on the bar. 

Chloe tried not to flinch as the quiet Rider looked at her. “We need to find this kid and soon. Before his guardian gets nervous again.” She looked at the crime scene photos from the latest massacre. “I wonder…Father Torres runs some youth groups aimed at kids living on the streets. Maybe he can give me an idea where to start looking for this kid.” She rose and started to edge out of the club. “You coming, Lucifer?”

“Yes he is” Mauve said suddenly. She walked over and gave the handsome devil a quick peck, She leaned into his ear and whispered “Stay close to her. If we’re right the guardian may try to strike at her to distract.”

Lucifer nodded, his quick smile disappearing and his eyes flashing red. “If it does – not even Father will stop me from pushing it into the pit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point - any opinions on who Lucifer should punish? The angel guardian or the human? Or both? Or neither? I'm interested in hearing some opinions before I write any more.


End file.
